Gadecki/Peers and Kubler/Polmans book their spots in doubles semis with stunning performances

(Getty/Lintao Zhang)

Australian doubles is looking strong as Olivia Gadecki and John Peers and Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans booked their spots in the semi-finals of mixed doubles and men's doubles respectively, with straight sets victories.

Gadecki and Peers took on Aleksandra Krunić and Mate Pavić, who had defeated two all-Australian pairs on their way to the final and looked strong from the outset, taking a dominant first set 6-1 in 22 minutes, before Krunić and Pavić fought back in the second set to take it to a tiebreak.

But ultimately, the Aussies were too strong, saving a set point on the Krunić serve to take the win.

"Today, I thought we played a really clean first set. We fought hard and came up trumps at the end, and I thought Liv played especially well at the back end of that tiebreak," said Peers.

Krunić said: "It was going very fast, and once we got past the 20-minute threshold, then we started playing well as the pressure went down. Second set, we just try to take our chances and return a little better, serve a little better, put some more balls in. Almost worked out well for us."

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Kubler and Polmans took on the French pair of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul and served out a strong 6-4, 7-6(3) victory. The Aussies dominated in the first set before the French pair broke late in the second set, with the Aussies breaking back immediately to take the match into a tiebreak, where they closed it out.

"I think the match was very 50/50. I think Jason and I did a good job of holding on to our serve throughout the match and giving ourselves a chance to break at 5-4 in the first," said Polmans.

"Credit to the French boys for fighting back and breaking our serve at 5-all in the second. It looked like the match was going to a three-setter, so really happy we were able to get the break back and play a solid tiebreak. I think the match was good quality from both teams, and I think the crowd was also really special tonight, too."

With Australians having success in all three doubles draws (with Kim Birrell and Talia Gibson still alive in women's doubles), their opponents were complimentary of the Australian doubles system.

"While I've been playing doubles on tour, coming here for the last 10 years, there's always been good, good players," Pavić admitted. "The wildcards always make good results, so obviously, there is something behind it. I guess they respect doubles. They teach kids to play doubles from a young age, and they have a good tradition in doubles."

"They have the tradition of doubles, I think they really respect the game of doubles," said Kristina Mladenovic, who won earlier with Manuel Guinard. "I think they have great champions in doubles that probably stick around tennis and are giving advice and helping them develop when they're younger and in lower tours, which help them to become the players they are."

Birrell and Gibson will take on Ena Shibahara and Vera Zvonareva on Rod Laver Arena tonight, while Gadecki and Peers face Nikola Mektić and Taylor Townsend on Margaret Court Arena. Kubler and Polmans will play their doubles semi-final on Thursday, with their opponents yet to be determined.

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